stacyboo77

Hello!

I am planning a trip in October to see the fall foliage of New Hampshire and Vermont. We're flying in and out of Boston so we want to do the Freedom Trail on our way out of town. From Boston, we're taking a short hop to Washington DC to take in some of the sights there.

We're flying just after Columbus Day so I'm figuring we need to head up to NH and VT for the first part of our trip. I am planning to spend 1.5 days in NH and 1.15 days in VT.

After VT, we'll drive back to Boston and spend the day (and night) there. The next morning we'll fly to DC and as of now, I'm planning to spend - in total - two full days (half day on day 1, one full day on day 2, and a late flight out the next day should give us another half day). In DC, we want to visit Mt. Vernon, see the monuments, visit a museum or two, and also visit Arlington.

Any inputs on whether this is too rushed whether with the Fall Foliage section of the trip or the DC section of the trip? Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!

stacyboo77

Thought I should clarify that we intend to stick to the southern halves of both New Hampshire & Vermont.

Thanks!

capxxx

Well it is pretty rushed.

The hard part might being finding hotels in VT, NH that will consent to one-night stays -- many will have 2 or 3 night minimums. Maybe you could stay in a central location and make driving loop tours? Or maybe drive westward and fly out of Albany or Hartford instead of Boston, to save doubling back?

You are aware, right, that the Freedom Trail is a walking tour? I"m not sure what you mean about doing it on your way out of town.

gail

Doing the Freedom Trail on your way out of town is not the best of plans. Roads north to NH or VT from Logan are easy - if you loop back into Boston, find a place to park, run along the Freedom Trail - not an efficient use of time. So just plan on doing that on your stay in Boston. Perhaps arrive as early in day as possible, head north, spend 2 nights in 1 place (if all you want is foliage, pick NH or VT), 2 days in Boston, and then on to DC.

But keep in mind that some think foliage schedule or quality will be totally messed up by weather this year. It snowed in October, then not much again, and was summer-like yesterday. Plus a 6-month drought. At this rate, fall foliage will occur in about mid-July. (only kidding about July, but it is going to be far less predictable this year)

RLFox184

Agree with others about trying to consolidate a bit. If flying into Boston, do everything you want to do in Boston first...then head North to see the colors, one day later shouldn't mean drastic differences.

Not sure there is an advantage to spending 1.5 days in each of VT and NH, if there for such a short time just pick one.

Typically (and this is shaping up to be anything but a typical or predictable year), post-Columbus Day colors are pretty nice in the Southwest corner of New Hampshire (Monadnock Region). It is just 1 1/2 hours from Boston so you won't spend extra time on the highways getting to your destination. It has some quintessential New England towns, covered bridges, and a few mountains and lots of hills.

You could even use a town like Peterborough or Keene as a hub and if you really want to go into Vermont, drive over for the day and come back to NH in the evening. Depending on what time your flight from Boston to DC is, you could spend your last New England evening in NH and just drive down the day of your flight.

As for DC, you didn't mention how long you will be there but there is a lot of great stuff to see and never enough time to take it all in. Whether you want to go to the Smithsonian, Holocaust Museum, Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson Memorials, MLK and War memorials, Georgetown, etc. There is so much to see and do! I am a huge fan of Great Falls National Park in VA close to DC.

longhorn55

Plan to see the monuments in the evening after the museums, etc. have closed. Not only does it free up your daytime hours, but the monuments look so great when they are lit up. You could do this as part of an organized "Monuments by Moonlight" tour, or save the money and do it yourself as we locals do.

MareW

I also would pick between NH and Vermont. I like both, but prefer NH for foliage trips. If you literally mean right after Columbus Day, as in Tuesday or Wednesday of that week, I would consider going to the White Mountains instead of Southern NH. I usually go Columbus Day weekend, because I was finding the weekend before to be too early in many years. Of course, it's hard to predict peak foliage in a normal year, never mind the craziest winter many of us in New England can ever remember.

djkbooks

From Boston, those days, my recommendation would be to drive west on Route 2/Mohawk Trail to Williamstown, or Route 101 in NH to Route 9 in Vermont to Bennington, all depending on the foliage reports. Spend a night there. Do some scenic drives - depending on where the best colors happen to be. There are scenic drives in every direction. Spend the next night in Stockbridge and return to Boston via the MA Turnpike.

A day can make a HUGE difference, particularly around Columbus Day when a heavy rain with winds could remove all remaining leaves...

All the states have telephone hotlines and foliage updates on their websites. If your endeavor is beautiful foliage, focus on that rather that which state.

Keith

After this record hot winter and spring, all bets are off on the fall color timing this year.

stacyboo77

Thanks for all the input! I will try to keep my trip as flexible as possible and hopefully be able to catch some nice color.

capxxx

Do go ahead and book a hotel soon, though. They tend to fill up. Once there, you can inquire about the best direction to drive in find the peak colors. It shouldn't be more than an hour away if you are somewhere near the NH/VT southern border.